Allot of you were curious as to what I would get for fuel economy. My very 1st tank full was 10.9 mpg. It's gotten much better since. I've got a little over 2,000 miles on the truck. So far the best fuel economy I've gotten with It Is 17.2 mpg. I've only taken It on one 4.5 hour trip. Most of my driving otherwise has been short trips, 5 miles here and 5 miles there. I'm averaging right around 13.7 mpg on these short trips. I'm thinking I'll get close to that 15 mpg range eventually as the motor breaks In. I don't think 20 mpg Is out of the picture either on long trips. I believe It will happen. So far so good If you ask me.
Fantastic...so I only get about 4 more mpg on the highway than you and about 5mpg better in the city, and my truck is about 1/4 the size of yours...I hate my life:D
That is good mileage out of a big V-8, and a new one at that. If you don't drive it like you stole it you should see a steady increase in MPG. Good info to know. Thanks!!!
I don't see you getting to your magic 20 mpg. Mileage really won't change that much on todays cars from beginning to down the road. I think you'll find if you push it up near 70 mph your mileage will go straight to hell. If you baby it on starts and stops and no fast excellerations you'll get a couple mpg more than not thinking of those things. If you average 15 you'll probably be doing well. Yes, on a long road trip or even a medium road trip where you don't have to start and stop, but you'll be going faster... you're looking in the high teens at best.... like maybe 17-18. Hook onto even a light trailer or something and you'll be back at 14.
Thats phenomenal. My Tundra '08 5.7 crewmax only averages 11.7 around town. One trip with speeds of 65 mph (55 posted speed limit) of about 60 miles I got around 17.8. Can someone explain to me how Steve's truck get's 17 when i could never squeak out a solid 20 in a V6 Tacoma?
Interesting. Thanks for the update. Had been considering a 4x4 F250 in the near future because of wanting to get into some areas I can't with my 2wd van. Not quite sure what to think as I've been able to now get close to 16mpg on my '97 E250 5.4L. Part of me is still looking at a Ranger because of size. But, I dunno.
I own a V6 Tacoma with 265/75/16s, and will get 18-19mpg consistently in the summer, 16-17 in the winter. The 5spd transmission vs 6spd (Tundra and Ford) helps the latter tremendously on the highway. Your Tundra has a 4.3 rear end as well as opposed to a 3.73 rear end in the F250. This equates to higher cruising RPMs which doesn't help highway mileage. Can't hurt that Ford really is getting their stuff down lately.
No doubt this last statement is true. If my Tundra wasn't paid for I'd be looking into the 150 with eco boost.
Maybe It won't David hit that 20 mpg on my longer trips, I'm perfectly fine with 17 mpg. I disagree though on new vehicles not getting better fuel economy as they age. Moving parts In a motor are moving parts, no different then years ago. My brother has a 2007 F-250 that has the 5.4 gas In It. Terrible fuel mileage for the most part, 11 to 12 mpg. With In the last month he hit the 65,000 mile range and just like that his fuel mileage has Increased to 13 to 14 mpg. My 2007 Sterling milk truck gets better mileage now at 320,000 miles then It did when I 1st bought It brand new as well. Once a motor breaks In they will get better fuel mileage. You are right though about the 70 mph range. I watched my mileage drop a full mpg. 2 weeks ago I hauled 13 loads of wood (oak) pulling a skid steer trailer on very soft frost boiled gravel roads. The loads were huge and very heavy. I got 10 mpg In both tank fulls. That Impressed me the more then the 17 mpg I got on my trip. I don't know what to tell ya NC. I don't know a thing about Toyota's but It sure sounds like Matt Is In the know there.
That's good mileage, my buddy just got the Ford SVT Raptor he ordered and he isn't too happy so far, he read a lot of guys saying that they were getting 17-18 mpg in their Raptors but my buddy has been been getting between 11.7 and 12.4 mph.
Steve, I'd agree with David, I think it'll be a stretch to get that 20MPG range as well. It doesn't make sense that your brothers truck is doing better rather than worse suddenly at 65k, unless he's cleaned the injectors, freshened the air intake or something different. I typically run some higher test gasoline in our van to clean it out a little, but at 50k on my van, I am getting about 24mpg on the road, when we first got it, I could net out around 26.5mpg on the road. The Milk truck doing better at 320k vs. as new doesn't surprise me, but the diesels do tend to get a little better with a little age, but it's also had some new parts put into it I'm sure which can't hurt. My Cummins with a few "tune-ups" will get around 20mpg in MIXED driving, and I play more than I ought to, whereas when I first got it, the first 5k or so, I was doing well to get 16mpg, after about 25k, it avg'd around 18mpg, at 100k 18.5 or so. nearing 200k, with different air system, open exhaust, different injection pump and fuel pumps, chipped, etc, 20mpg with a moderate amount of playing is GREAT. It'll flat out smoke the tires and leave a cloud of black smoke when I get on it, or if I stay out of it, it'll run through the gears very smoothly and "sip" diesel fuel. Big difference between where you live and I do is that I'm chronically going UP or down, where it seems a little flatter in MN which should help a bit also. My bro has a 5.4 in his truck and getting 14.5 on the road is about as good as it gets for him, and that's going easy on the pedal to get there.
Already at the top of the list of possibilities for my next truck. I'll give it a couple of years or so to see how it truly performs, and ideally, I would like to give it a chance for buyers to hit 100K+ on it, but I doubt I will be that patient:D
I'm not going to argue with anyone on this breaking In thing anymore. I'll just say this that I've got plenty of experience on the mechanic side of things (diesel and gas). Back In the day I built motors, Installed motors, you name It I did It. The motors of today still have the same parts guys. Piston rings finally seat themselves, cylinders have a little less friction, etc. Parts move easier. It's not rocket science. If my truck gets better fuel economy down the road that'll be great. If not, oh well. Life will go on.
